Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-23
In A MEXICAN DILtGENCIA.
INTO THE HOT LANDS" on THE
WESTERN SIERRA MADRES.
The Delightful Companions on the
Way OF Banditti Ornamented
with Masks and Daggers.
Especial Correspondence Of the REcoRD-UNox.

buEHSANACA, MEX, july II, 1851.
The good old days of the diigencia, and
It's picturesque accompaniment of banditti
with masks and daggers, are fast drawing
to close in Mexico, for American engines
and enterprise are pushing them farther
and farther into the wilderness But there
are many places in which the stage-coach,
with all its risks and discomforts will be
preferred forever by travellers with an eye
to beauty-and one of them is the route to
Cuernavaca. Though only eighteen leagues
from Mexico city, just within the borders
Of the terra cdl.eata, or I" hot lands" this
city is separated from the Capital by the
lofty walls of the Sierra Madre range, the
scaling of which is an experience long to
be remembered.
Besides the charm of mountain scenery,
the section is invested with the glamour
of historical romance, having been the
theater OF CorteS most adventurous ex-
PLOTS, and-300 years later-the favorite
tramping- ground Of American invaders.
The special object Of our journey was to
inspect the scenes made famous by the an
Gent Spanish and comparatively recent
American occupation of the valley under
the respective
AR;IES or CORTES AND SCOTT,
And to visit the country seat of the early
Conquistador, acquired after he had sub
jected the Aztecs and been made MARQUIS
of the Valley"
Passage by coach from the City of Mex
leo to Cuernayaca costs 81 80, with an
nrr0ba twenty-five pounds) of luggage al
lowed gratis, and 80 cents charged for
each additional dTobd. In Mexico the
coach never comes to you, but you must
come to the coach, bag and baggage, as to
a railway carriage-and although on this
route the advertised time of starting is 6
A NJ, it Is well to present yourself at least
an hour EARLIER at the yawning portal of
the Dihgencias Generates. In all this
lazy country the one exhibition of :" tax
ing time by the forelock is in the matter
of stage-starting in the dim twilight of the
morning. the drivers being anxious to
reach as soon Is possible the long midday
siesta Fortunately we also seized old
Father Ten1pus in the same disrespectful
fashion, hgUratiyely speaking-for fully
twenty minutes ahead of time the coach
was rafting through the streets to the open
plains beyond.
The locomotive power of the Cuernavaca
line consists Of nine mules to each coach,
which the driver keeps at q constant gal
lop by cracking very long whip with
great energy, and making the welkin ring
at frequent intervals by his musical cry of
Mulas Ah-h-h-h-hw while the tan
colored assistant mounted beside him car
ries a bag Of small stones, which he SHES,
one by one, at the donkeyS' cars with an
accuracy Of aim as astonishing as effective
Far be il from me TO administer to you
doses of history and scenery I'D nauSeam
but who can journey through this glori-
Gus valley and not wax enthusiastic, find
ing excuse IN the fact that the great minds
of many oenturies-poets, warriors, histo-
rians and scientists, have been similarly
quickened here? Who can speed out of
these gates and not think of the gallant
Twiggs, who menaced them when the
tides of battle surged and ebbed around
Churubuseo, whose ruined walls are Just
beyond What American does not feel
his pulses stirred by the mere mention of
the names Of places near which we are
now passing@Chapultepe Molino del Rey,
the Hacienda de San Antonio, San Angus
tin and It's dreary pedregai-where Scott,
Worth, Pillow, Quitman, Twiggs and Per-
sifer Smith distinguished themselves at
the expense of their Southern neighbors,
whose only ofense was in CALAMITY defend
ing their own.
Besides these later day transactions, in
which Americans should feel no sort of
pride, the country before us, as well as the
city we have left, and the hills we are now
climbing, witnessed the most remarkable
exploits OF Cortes, Alvarado, Coronado,
and long line of rascally Spaniards,
whose every step in the New World was
marked bv the blood of the innocent
Among these purple foothills was the an
Gent Coyoaean, where the Conqueror held
his headquarters during those days OF
wholesale murder; and over there on the
borders Of Lake Xochimilco is the village
Of the same name, where the brave Aztecs
came nea. making an end of their troubles
BY capturing the cruel Conquistador. Had
they succeeded in taking him prisoner,
low quickly would they have hustled him
up the great staircase of
THAT rEuHam.E TEMPLE OF SACRIFICE,
Where oIo Euinilopotchtli sat aloft on
Ms terrace with face toward the rising sun,
whose rays reflected upon his golden breast
plate Already the lugubrious war-drums
of Serpent-skin we're sounding in anticipa-
ton, and the priests, with barred breasts
and adde--aaoiuted locks, prepared their
knives Of volcanic glass for the welcome
task Fortunate. indeed, would the abort
gine- have heen had their little game sue
ceeded the hand of ate was stronger,
and with the escape of ''the fair god their
doom was sealed
When ,ge sci out from the capital city
the air w..s cool to chilliness, and though
the municipal lamps were extinguished,
the great ST lar lamps had not yet been
lighted.
But Boyg, like lobster boiled. the morn
From back 20 red began TO turn
At Tlaipam, the ancient San Augustin,
We tarried only long enough 10 change
mules: and after leaving that lovely vii
lage with lis trees and gardens, wound up
ward among volcanic rocks by toilsome
mountain road. At length Ajuseo was
reached, cu6died close under the extinct
volcano Of the same name-a miserable
little village which from time immemorial
has been famous as a robbers nest. Above
crowned the black mountains clothed from
base 10 summit with dark forests of pine
and hemlock-certainly looking worthy of
its brigand-haGnted reputation.
Later, at La Guardian enterprising
hamlet containing one adobe house, a
dozen cane-stalk jacels, and an alleged
hotel which is a cross between the two
we halted for breakfast. 1t was now II
o'clock, and we had climbed upward from
the valley well into the terra fra, or cold
zone, to az altitude of 900 feet. Inside
the rude hot, with its earthern floor and
thateh of dirty straw, we breakfaSted sump-
tuously thanks to healthy appetites sharp
eued by mountain air. on the most pep
perry Of cl.jli-con-carRje, chicken smothered
IN garlic, frgolcs (5eans) stewed in grease,
tortillas and pulque-all of which luxuries
were furnished for so cents, and cheap
enough at that, considering we had the
full benefit, to boot, of our eompdneros
cigarettes At La Guarda
~ ARMED ESCORT
Is provided hv the Government for every
diligenria, because knights of the road
are believed to be lurking still in the lone
some regions beyond, with an eve to bust
ness. The said guard consists of four
.aoeraI eolg-arS IN -rconfy s,DttoY, Garments